Distance learning computer courses, Chess lessons, Motivation and Personality building programs for Vision Impaired students

Introduction

Vision impaired people use special screen reading softwares to read and perform different tasks in the computer. They need training in how to use these screen reading softwares. Not many institutes offer computer screen reading courses. The lack of English knowledge of most blind and low vision people in Sri Lanka has been a major barrier for them to use the Internet as a learning tool because many lessons are in English.

Chess is the most popular board game in the world. There is a huge demand among vision impaired people in Sri Lanka to learn Chess.

Being vision impaired can lead into many stress and personality disorders. Especially for people who became vision impaired later in their lives. They need attention and proper counseling to be strong.

For the first time in Sri Lanka, I’m planning to build a web site where blind and low vision people can follow computer courses and Chess lessons online in Sinhala and English languages free of charge. Through my web site I have planned to conduct Chess lessons for all vision impaired Chess lovers and to share tips and inspiring stories, where vision impaired people can build their personality and focus towards achieving their goals. I always believe that whatever the mind can conceive and believe will be achieved even you are disabled.

 I’m also planning to create audio books for vision impaired people who don’t have internet access.

Why Me?

I believe I can help many vision impaired people in Sri Lanka as well as all around the world. My vision is to improve Education, Sports and Social standards of all vision impaired people in the world. Then we can live a happy independent life and do something useful for the society, country or the world.

Following qualifications of mine I believe will guide me to complete my web site for the vision impaired people.

·       Graduate in Management Information Systems.

·       Served as a volunteer Information Technology instructor at Rathmalana School for the Blind.

·       Advanced diploma in Human Resource Management, Diploma in Psychology and student in advanced counseling.

·       Placed 2^nd in all island Chess tournament for the Vision impaired in 2014.

·       Member of United States Braille Chess Association.

I’m planning to launch my web site end of March 2016. If there are any suggestions or any guidance towards my project I would be thankful.


Paper Articles : http://vipasvip.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_19.html

My projects : http://vipasvip.blogspot.com/p/my-projects_28.html

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Sirasa Super Star Blind Singer Meneka Sujani

Congratulations to Meneka Sujani vision impaired graduate; who was selected for the final 48 singers in Sirasa Super Star Season 7. On the 2^nd of December 2015 they held the 3^rd round to select final 8 singers. They divided 48 singers into 8 groups 6 each and selected 1 singer from each group.

I was there at Rathmalana Sirasa Styne Studio when Meneka was participating in her competition in hope that she will be select for the final 8 Super stars. We supported her by clapping and whistling loudly. She sang beautifully but she couldn’t place 1^st in her group. All the other singers were dancing and acting on the stage while singing but Meneka stood still and sang her song because she was vision impaired.

Judges congratulated her for showing great determination to participate in such a huge event and been selected for the final 48 singers.

White Cane Day Lion's Club

 “The White Cane Day Program” organized by the Lion’s club Kotte was held on the 9^th of October 2015 at the Sri Lankan Council for the blind auditorium. 30 vision impaired individuals received white canes in this event. This was the 2^nd time a white cane day program was organized by the Lion’s club Kotte

Our trip to Kandy

The one day trip we went to Kandy was fun; we enjoyed the trip a lot. On the 24^th of September, vision impaired students of the New Light Blind Center ANMA Massage Course, managers and other helpers of the New Light Blind Center went on a trip to Kandy. The trip was organized by Mr. Park the course director, Mr. Suresh the course manager and Mr. Munasingha the translator. There were 10 vision impaired students including me joined the trip. Our trainer Mr. Lee, Missionary Lee and Mrs. Amuda our chef joined the trip.

We left Kirulapana at about 8 a.m. We first went to the Pinnawala elephant orphanage. On our way we brought some tasty Pineapples. We reached Pinnawala at about 11a.m. regular vision organizers and partially sighted students guided the totally blind students. Starting from the ticket counter to the last place we visited where we saw elephant bath, only one question we heard from other people and it was “How can blind people see elephants?” That question will be answered after you see the photos and videos we took at Pinnawala. We enjoyed hearing elephant trumpet. Feeding elephants with fruits was fun and it was amazing the feeling we got when we hold the fruit in front of the elephant it suddenly grab the fruit from our hand. It was really fun. An elephant is an intelligent animal; there is a video we were able to record when our trainer Mr. Lee who is totally blind was feeding the elephant it made a lovely trumpet just as it felt sorry for the group of people who have come to see them.

Our next visit was to the Kandy Temple. On our way we had our lunch at the Kandy Church. We couldn’t go to Botanical garden because it was raining at that time. After worshiping the Kandy temple, we went to the Kandy view point where you can see the entire Kandy city in a single view. It was windy there and it was so relaxing to spend time at the Kandy view point. Finally we went to the Kandy City Center. We had ice cream and other refreshments there. We left Kandy at about 6p.m and we were back to Kirulapana at about 10p.m. On our way we had our dinner at a restaurant. The entire trip was fun and we sang songs in the bus and we used our metal plates as drums.

Big thanks should go to the organizers Mr. Park, Mr. Suresh, Mr. Munasingha, Missionary Lee, our bus driver Mr. Rahul and our chef Mrs. Amuda. They guided us well.

Vision impaired Tuan enlightens his kind

Vision impaired Tuan enlightens his kind

By Chanaka de Silva

25th August 2015

"Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light." the poignant poem by Dilan Thomas gives strength to fight on, no matter what the odds. Such is the nature of the young man Tuan Mohammed Rushdi cassim. A person whose unfailing courage has pushed him to achieve thing that many, without any difficulty would envy and do well to emulate.

Rushdi experienced vision problems and colour blindness at an early age. Though undeterred he carried on with the plate, life served him. Doing well academically he only wanted to achieve the goals he had set out. And achieve them he will. During the 3rd year of his degree in Management Information Systems at NIBM, things took a turn for the worst. His failing sight progressed very quickly.

Tuan was diagnosed with Retinitis pigmentosa a visual impairment in 2009. "At first some of the coloured segments of the slides, during lectures could not be seen," he said. But I thought this was normal. By the time I completed my degree, I could barely see. A condition that causes damage to the retina, resulting in sever vision impairment and even blindness. There is no known cure.

Determined not to be put down, Tuan landed a job at a wedding decoration firm. But it was even more disheartening when his handicap forced him to quit only a week after he started his job. "I hung around a bus stop for 40 minutes after I was let go. I was at a loss as to what to do," says Tuan.

Along way since then, Tuan spent two years at home looking for a job. He hasn't stop looking yet. He finally picked himself up and took up Braille, in 2013, to face the challenges ahead of him. "I didn't want to abandon my studies," says Tuan. He had his primary education at Carey College. But after the

Vision impairment set in, he took a course from the Sri Lanka Council for the Blind (SLCB) that enable him to operate the computer without having to look at the screen, through a specially designed software. He also learned to use the white cane at the SLCB.

Tuan's courage paid off and now has an Advance National Diploma in Human Resource Management from NIBM and a Diploma in Psychology from American College of Higher Education both under his belt. He is currently reading for his MBA at the Human Resource Management Institute. When asked about his multidisciplinary portfolio, he said that HR and Psychology are additional qualifications. "Besides I was always good at psychology, even at school"

Apart from his education qualifications, Tuan is an adept chess player. He was placed second at the all-island visually impaired chess tournament. He is a swimmer trained under Julian Bolling and is also a member of the SLCB cricket team.

Tuan is unique not the fact that he picked himself up, but the fact that he is able to help others like him through his web site for entrepreneurs with visual impairment. The web site, Entrepreneurs with Disabilities (www.entrepreneurs-with-disabilities.com),  is a multidisciplinary platform in which entrepreneurs of different vocations such as candle making, acupuncture, musicians can advertise their services, at no cost to them. "Customers can contact them directly without a middlemen," explain Tuan. The web site is totally dependent on donations. When asked what he hopes to gain from maintaining the web site, Tuan says "At SLCB I met many visually impaired people who engage in business," he explained that there is no market for products and services by people with disabilities and that he hopes to help them find this niche market through this web site.

"I intend to promote the web site as an Information Base on entrepreneurs with disabilities, their products and increase their exposure."

To help others who are in a similar condition is the ambition Tuan craves for. Tuan is currently in the process of collecting data of entrepreneurs with visual impairments. With the correct type of help he can not only do this but do it well indeed.

When ask about his future plans, Tuan confided that he hopes to develop a screen reading software distance learning course in both Sinhala and English mediums for visually impaired people. "Not many institutes offer computer screen reading courses and it's difficult for visually impaired people to travel for the few places that do offer such courses"

https://www.ceylontoday.lk/18-101842-news-detail-vision-impaired-tuan-enlightens-his-kind.html

The Music Concert for the blind

There was a special event organized by “The New Light Blind Center” on the 20^th of July 2015. About 25 Korean foreigners together with “The New Light Blind Center” organized a musical show at Nayanalokagama. Nayanalokagama is a small village, where there many vision impaired families live.

I played the Ocarina, Harmonica and the guitar. Everyone enjoyed the event.

The AGM- The Sri Lanka Vision Impaired Cricket

The Sri Lankan vision impaired cricket’s annual general meeting was held on the 11^th of July 2015. Mr. U. Priyantha was selected as the new president of the Sri Lankan vision impaired cricket. I was appointed as one of the committee members who can represent their cricket club; I am representing my team Sri Lanka Council for the Blind.

One of the major events of the 2015 VIP cricket AGM was to appreciate the service done by Ms. Neyomie Sathyaseelam for Sri Lanka’s vision impaired cricket.

The Dilma 40 overs national cricket tournament will start from the 19^th of July 2015. There 11 teams in the tournament. Each team has play 10 matches & the top 4 teams will enter the semi final round.

Vision Impaired Cricket match

Vision impaired cricket match between Sri Lanka council for the blind & Tangalle Senehasa teams were played on the 14^th of June 2015 at the Piliyandala ground.

Batting first SLCB scored 212/7 after 30 overs. Tangalle team won the match by 5 wickets in the 22^nd over.

SLCB captain Madusanka scored 58 runs took 2 wickets and a direct hit run out.

Vision Impaired Youth Awurudu Uthsawaya

The most awaited event of the year for all vision impaired youth community; “Awurudu Uthsawaya 2015” was organized by Sri Lanka Federation for the Visually Handicapped Youth Forum and Sri Lanka Federation for the Visually Handicapped Kaluthara branch was held on the 3^rd of May at Kaluthara Ashakara temple grounds.

The event started at 10.30 a.m. The first event was “Breaking the Lucky Pot”, where eyes were closed of all the participants who had to break the pot which had milk in it. Pots were hanged, with a help of a rope. Here’s a short video of the event.

“Feeding Yogurt” competition was really fun for the spectators. Yogurts were flying all over the place because the eyes were closed of the person who fed yogurt.

Our team won the “Kaba Adima”, a team game with six players per side. The game to find the Hidden Stranger was really fun. Most of the people guessed the wrong person and in one case all people surrounded one of my friends and tried to carry him to the announcing area to show that they found the hidden stranger when he was not the person. U. Priyantha, the chief organizer was the hidden stranger.

Menaka Sujani won the Awurudu Kumariya competition. It was not a surprise for anyone because she was looking gorgeous. 

There were many more events and we enjoyed a lot.

Essay Competition 2015

Essay Topics

1. Diversity within society or nation, is it reason for conflict or for advancement?

2. A blind figure at national, regional or international level, from present or past era, introduce and identify learned lessons.

3. Graduated from inclusive high school, what is your personal experience?

4. Social media means, is it for social life or for social isolation?

Instructions for Writers 

- Each visually impaired participant has to write on one topic only,

- Number of words of the essay ranges from 500 to 1100 words,

- Participant can write the essay in local language since the selection committee has to translate into English, however, it is advisable to encourage participants to write in English,

Closing date : 25th May 2015

Braille and electronic copies of the essay should be submitted on or before the closing date to Sri Lanka Council for the Blind, 50 B, Sarana Mawatha, Rajagiriya.

Word you speak will decide your future....

WW

Handy In Handicapped

By Sajitha Prematunge

3rd May 2015.

He experienced vision problems and color blindness at an early age. But it was probably normal, he figured. But things took a turn for the worst during the 3^rd year of his degree in Management Information Systems at NIBM. During the 3^rd he experienced extreme vision loss.

Tuan Mohammed Rushdi Cassim, 28, from Enderamulla, Wattala has visual impairment. He has low vision. “At first couldn’t see some of the colored segments of the slides, during lectures,” says Tuan. But I thought this was normal. By the time he completed his degree, he could hardly read. He was diagnose with Retinitis Pigmentosa in 2009, a condition that causes damage to the retina, resulting in sever vision impairment and even blindness. There is no cure.

So, it came as a surprise when Tuan landed a job at a Wedding decoration firm, after a series of interviews. But it was even more disheartening when his handicapped force him to leave only a week after he started his job. “I hung around the bus stop for 40 minutes after I was let go. I was at a loss,” says Tuan.

Tuan has come a long way since then. He spent two years at home looking for a job. He hasn’t stop looking yet. He finally picked himself up and took up Braille, in 2013, to face the challengers in head of him. “I didn’t want to abandon my studies,” says Tuan. He had his primary education at Carey College. But after the vision impairment set in he took a course from the Sri Lanka Council for the Blind (SLCB) that enable him to operate the computer without having to look at the screen, through a specially designed software. He also learned to use the white cane at the SLCB.

Tuan now has an Advance National Diploma in Human Resource Management from NIBM and a Diploma in Psychology from American College of Higher Education under his belt. He is currently reading for his MBA at the Human Resource Management Institute. When ask about his multidisciplinary portfolio, Tuan said that HR and Psychology are additional qualifications.  “Besides I was always good at psychology, even at school”

A part from his education qualifications, Tuan is an adept chess player. He was placed 2^nd at the all island visually impaired chess tournament. He is a swimmer, trained under Julian Bolling and also a member of the SLCB cricket team.

But what makes Tuan unique is not the fact that he picked himself up, but the fact he is able to help others like him through his web site for entrepreneurs with visual impairment. The web site Entrepreneurs with Disabilities (www.entrepreneurs-with-disabilities.com),  is a multidisciplinary platform in which entrepreneurs of different vocations such as candle making, acupuncture, musicians etc can advertise their services, at no cost.  “Customers can contact them directly without a middlemen,” explain Tuan. The web site is totally dependent on donations.

When asked what he hope to gain from maintaining the web site, Tuan says “At SLCB I met many visually impaired people who were engage in business,” he explained that there is no market for products and services by people with disabilities and that he hopes to help them find this niche market through this web site. “I intend to promote the web site as an Information Base on entrepreneurs with disabilities, their products and increase their exposure.”

Tuan is currently in the process of collecting data of entrepreneurs with visual impairments.

When ask about his future plans, Tuan confided that he hopes to develop a screen reading software distance learning course in both Sinhala and English mediums for visually impaired people. “Not many institutes offer computer screen reading courses and it’s difficult for visually impaired people to travel for the few places that do offer such courses”

Tuan fondly remembers the support of his parents and uncle T.F.Cassim in all his endeavors.

Vision Impaired Musician

Premarathana

Piano, Sarpina, Guitar, Accordion and many more instruments……

Mobile – 0770786482

Music for

* Weddings

* Special Parties

*Paduru Parties

* Special Events

- See more at: http://entrepreneurs-with-disabilities.com/music/tallented-vision-impaired-musician-sri-lanka/#sthash.NjFihNKB.dpuf

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Farewell Party - Samson Perera

There was a farewell party organized by the Sri Lankan Council for the Blind on the 1^st of January 2015 for Mr. Samson Perera the Information Technology instructor at SLCB. After 22 years of service our Sam sir got retired. He was the most experienced IT instructor for the blind in Sri Lanka. Most of the best vision impaired IT professionals learned screen reading software’s from our Sam sir.

Sam sir was very friendly with us. He had a well updated knowledge about the computer world. Sam sir always wanted all web sites to be accessible for the vision impaired computer users as well. Sam sir was my first IT teacher who taught me how to use the computer without looking at the computer screen. I learned the JAWS software under Sam sir.

I wish all the best for the future for our Sam sir. It will be a tuff task to replace a sir like him.